Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

An

Explanation

of

MilitarySlavery 83

old

lifestyle.

Cattlenomadswhocontinued

herding

mostoften

retainedtheiroldabilities;althoughtheirlocale

changed,

their

activitiesremainedthesame,sotheirdescendentsstayed

hardy

and

fought

well.The

unreliability

ofthesesoldiers

lay

notin

their

militaryaptitude

butintheir

political

unruliness.

Asvictorious

troops,

the

marginal

areasoldierswho

brought

a

dynasty

to

power

felt

privileged; they

and theirdescendents

placedgreat

demandson

therulerandconsideredthemselves

entitledtowhateverhe
gave

them.

Thesesoldiersconsideredthe

rulerintheirdebtandtoleratedhim
only

asanarbiter.

They

pressedhimforconcessions,

squabbledamong

themselves,and

obeyed

him

only

whenit

suitedthem.Inshort,therulercould

not
impose

hiswillonthembuthadto

toleratethemasaninde-

pendent

force.Withtime,however,therulerwouldfindtheir

attitudesand
power

intolerableashe

increasingly

tookonthere-

sponsibilitiesand
challenges

ofa

sovereign.Especially

whenthe

marginal

areasoldiersweretheruler’s

kinsmendid

theygrow

fatandclamor
loudly

for

privileges,

sohewasforcedto

sever

his
dependence

onthem:"Arulercanachieve

poweronly

with

the
help

ofhis

ownpeople

[Eventually,

however,]theruler

showshimself
independentofhis
people,

claimsallthe

glory

for

himself,and
pushes

his

peopleawayfrom

it

withthe

palms

(of

his hands). As aresult,his own
people

become, in

fact,

his

enemies.

’’63

Therefore,aboutthree

generations

afterthe

founding

ofa

dynasty,

someofthe

grandsons

ofwarriors

lapsedintocomfort-

ableindolence andothers made
unacceptable claims on the

ruler.Asthedescendentsof
marginal

areasoldiersbecameun-

reliable,

the

army

hadto

lessen

its

dependenceonthemandre-

place

themwithnew

troops.

Inorderto

prevent

them[his

people]

from

seizingpower,

andin

order

tokeepthem

away

from

participation

(in

power),

theruler

needsotherfriends,

not

of

hisownskin,whomhecanuseagainst

(his

own

people)

andwhowillbehisfriendsin

theirplace.These

(newfriends)becomeclosertohimthan

anyone

else.

n4

63.

Muq,

1:372.

64.Ibid.